I spent four years as Forbes' Girl Friday, which to me meant doing a little bit of everything at once. As a member of the Forbes Entrepreneurs team, I looked at booming business and startup life with a female gaze. I worked on the PowerWomen Wealth and Celebrity 100 lists, keeping my ears pricked and pen poised for current event stories--from political sex scandals to celebrity gossip to international affairs. In 2012 I helped to put two South American women on the cover of FORBES Magazine: Modern Family star Sofia Vergara (the top-earning actress on U.S. television) and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is transforming the BRIC nation into an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Prior to Forbes I was at the Philadelphia CityPaper, where I learned more than any girl ever needs to know about the city's seedier trades. I studied digital journalism at The University of The Arts.
I left Forbes in November, 2013, to pursue other interests on the West Coast.

Minority Women Entrepreneurs: Go-Getters Without Resources

Credit: American Express OPEN 2013 State of Women-Owned Business Report

This is a guest post by Natalie Madeira Cofield

Amidst the women entrepreneurial and ‘lean in’ movements brought to the forefront most prominently by Sheryl Sandberg, there has been a shortage of perspectives on the difficulties of minority women who have few people and very little financially to ‘lean on.’ The reality is–similar to the women’s suffrage movement, which for the most part excluded minority women–middle-to-upper class educated white women have driven much of the recent conversation.

In personal diatribes what is discussed is the internal debate between the nanny and quality time with children and starting a business or staying home, all of which are exorbitant luxuries to many minority women who have found themselves once again lost in the dialogue.

Katherine Weymouth –albeit a multi-millionaire heiress to the recently sold Washington Post, who too is removed from the actual plight of minority women–at least attempted to touch upon this concept in her Post op ed.

While minority and lesser-off white women remained just a stanza in the broader ‘lean in’ discussion, the reality is that Hispanic and African American women will play vital roles in the final frontier of the women’s empowerment movement: entrepreneurialism and economic freedom.

Fastest Growing Entrepreneurial Segments

According to a report by the Center for Women’s Business Research, Hispanic and African American women are the fastest growing entrepreneurial segments in the country growing at rates of 133.3% and 191.4% respectively from 1997 to 2007. Combined they represent more than two million of the roughly eight million women-owned businesses in the country and more than $14 billion in gross receipts. Further, African American and Hispanic women are three to five times more likely to start a business than their white counterparts.

For most minority women, the problem isn’t entrepreneurial appetite or the often-preached go-getter mentality; it’s sufficient financial and social capital resources to ‘lean on’.

Seed Capital and the Single Income Household

The impact of single parent households is a significant impediment to many aspiring entrepreneurial women of color. Particularly germane, but not exclusive to African American women is the fact that more than half will likely be unmarried and raising children in a single family home. This is due largely to the considerably lower-than-average African American marriage rate, roughly 40%.

This is evidenced by a report from the Center for Community Economic Development which found that the median net-worth for single white women was $41,500 compared to $100 and $120 for African American and Hispanic women, respectively.

These single-parent income households place women at considerable disadvantage as they have sizably less income and even fewer diversified assets to leverage as collateral for capital and initial seed capital investments.

Lack of Vital Social Capital

Lack of social capital and societal familiarity is another hurdle many lower income and minority women struggle to overcome.

Minorities and women in general often find difficulty with connecting and developing meaningful cross-cultural, cross-economic, cross-gender relationships within the fraternal and highly homogenous business world. This lack of access to ‘social’ capital poses significant issues with raising actual capital and other necessary support to be successful in business.

While minority women have historically adapted to societal changes, comfort and access to the realities of the white-male dominated business world remains a challenge. In contrast, for many upper-class white women who are already entrenched in social elements of this world, the chances of connecting with a high net-worth wife, or the husband himself, as a potential angel investor is considerably higher.

Overcoming Obstacles

In moving forward with arguably the largest women’s movement in recent history, professional women must adopt the same policies and practices of inclusivity across the racial and socio-economic stratum increasingly demanded from males regarding gender.

For women of color, increased participation with women’s associations, collectives and trade groups can greatly increase cross-cultural social capital and relationships. Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women,Walker’s Legacy (a business collective for women of color that I founded in 2009) and a local Women’s Chamber of Commerce are just a few great places to get started.

Both elements must be encouraged and practiced to ensure adequate support for and inclusion of enterprising women of color.

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Hi @MeghanCasserly, Interesting, yet often lost, topic. I appreciate you brought it up. Being a women entrepreneur myself, and from a conservative background, lack of social capital, as you rightly said, has had a profound impact, which am overcoming slowly. I also came across this information on the women in Thailand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Thailand#Business, saying, the women there represent 47% of the workforce!

So is this a problem with minority or poverty? I’m tired of them being classed together because it dimishes the impovished side. I’m white and grew up poor with only a single mom to raise me, had less scholarship opportunities than minoirites but still made it through college eating ramen, etc., but no one’s writing articles about my plights with poverty. Seriously, please quit blurring the lines between poverty and minority because not all minorities are poor and not all white people have money.

would u like some cheese to go with that ‘whine’. no one is saying all white men, we aren’t speaking i believe about women, are rich. You are reading Forbes, how many women are, so somewhere your access to information if not money still may put you at an advantage to others. Generally raising capital as a minority poses its challenges. However as a minority and women, i feel im a little tired of this convo. Continually painting these women as dregs and non contributors to society will further isolate them to opportunities for growth. Face it, lenders are not into giving capital to businesses they feel are looking for ‘handouts’ and the biggest problem we have is the negative PR which paints us and unable to manage and run a company as effectively as non-minorities.That is a fallacy. There are many minority women firms and they have a strong network, where-as capital may to be lacking due to discrimination many women have overcome great odds to be successful. We seem to miss many success stories without the help of wall street or vc’s. Many women, have built companies, you just don’t read about them. Fashion fair, many beauty companies, TV networks, they are there. I suspect however if they were publicized it would bring out the trolls.

Excellent commentary… as an entrepreneur who got off the corporate ladder to forge my own way, I could not agree more. The whole “Lead In” discussion really turned me off and while I knew how I felt, this post really articulates points I could not. Thanks for the post and let’s keep telling everyone about this revolution… it’s the one our mothers/aunts started that we must now lead. Be well.

Social capital is something that we all have to think about as the economy continues to struggle through (possible) growth. I wonder how social media and tools that enable online anonymity will contribute to the dilemma of not having access to enough social capital.

Unanimously, I can say: Women in America could be successful in terms of their vestiges and sorroundings, which apparently is once and for all ‘claiming’ to be the “center” of human civilization, but that now is the huge passé! European “women” on the other hand has much more “bigger” portfolios now and before. It were the “Women of Europe” who established power in the entire planet, not only by “suffrage”, but by their ‘uniqueness’ in handling over Political/Business – engagements. I mean…look at Merkell these days, she could just one single handedly ‘dictate’ Prseident Obama by the ‘finger’ about the so called Socialism in “Socialistic Welfare/Healthcare System”!

I also think, that, in reality, American Women really “have nothing to say” in the arena! It is also known that American Women have to wear The Most Whorible Kinds of Clothings compared to European and Asian women, and have to “play” a “whore able” kind of position in her society!

Let us make Imelda Marcos as an example here. This “woman” has been a good friend of Khaddafi for such a good decade or twoo. The “Most Influential Man on Earth” had respect to this woman, for she was not only a “Woman of Great Portfolio”, but also The Most Intriguing Woman on Earth”! Very articulate and with good qualities, also very refined and moralistic!

A woman like Imelda Marcos is a necessity, for no such women in the entire history of humankind had been able to act like her!

I’m a white, educated English woman, and i fall into this category, Whilst ( no longer ) a single parent, I am a sole earning, breadwinner with a business that is eminently scaleable and profitable – i make money – but it pays for us to live – no peer support or family & friends lending? 5 years too old for all the ‘ start up loans’ now available for those up to 30 years of age – Where to go? What to do? Raising a family and putting food on the table means this your priority – sometimes the luxury of networking and bigger picture planning simply isn’t an option.

I’ve talked to many Black women business owners. It seems that most get their funding from savings or family. Banks do not seem to be too kind with lending. A great site to check out if your looking for businesses owned and operated by black women is www.blackbuying.com. There are listings for every state and for multiple business categories.

Great article and the facts dont lie, Minority (and poor whites) are at a disadvantage, But it is so encourging to learn that they are the fastest growing group of woman entreprenures. Wow! I would have never have known that. It shows me that there are a lot of disantavaged women fighting to raise up. I work with Ambit and really try to help women of all colors start businesses and if you have a strong drive and will to succeed it is possible no matter how poor you are.